Recent Posts by amber.hard.femme
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You think Apple would have learned it's lesson after the Oscar Wilde comics debacle a few years back http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/apple-censors-gay-kiss-in_n_611553.html
And as for whether it was comiXology or Apple, the fact remains that this all has to do with Apple blocking apps and art based on content with no uniform standard. In my opinion, even if it was comiXology's decision, Apple and its policies deserve just as much scrutiny as they would have gotten had they banned it themselves.
Totally! Apple wants to have its cake and eat it, too. These nefarious, nebulous Apple standards are a complete mystery - probably because they want to take a "I know it when I see it" approach to what they're going to ban (at least until they get called on the carpet for it). It's bad for a free exchange of ideas, bad for consumers and bad for content producers who have to self-censor if they aren't lucky enough to have a big name like Brian K. Vaughn.
Thank you! I thought it was a stinky mess, too, but hadn't seen anyone else saying so. I can't prove it either, but it totally smells of comixology not wanting to piss off Apple and taking the blame for them. Good outcome, though... just have to rub the heeby jeeby Apple scum off of me. ;)
Having read the comic now, (NO SPOILERS) I cannot believe that the tiny, blink-and-you'll-miss-it screenshots of what looks like gay porn are at the epicenter of this hubbub. I actually did miss them on the first read-through.
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Great article. I definitely have seen the backlash of my work even as much as 2 days ago in a long thread of both homophobia and sexism. I pretty much have to force myself not to read comment threads when my stuff hits the mainstreams sites. It's brutal. I think it is definitely important to discuss. At times it is hard for me to bite my tongue, especially when those thoughts come more so from the viewers themselves than the cosplayers/photography allows. It's interesting to me that a group of people that once considered outside of mainstream has found the tenacity to exclude others that they feel to be different. Perhaps that is just human nature and applies to every race, sex, group etc. Too often people forget that no matter the representation of the characters, we are all just celebrating the same thing in our own ways.
Phillip, I was curious about your work and through the magic of Google, I was able to find it easily. I'm sure you were just modest about promoting your own stuff, but *I* have no such qualms. It's GORGEOUS! Lush, witty photography with some amazingly expressive and talented models.
I can only (sickeningly) imagine the ugly comments you must have had to wade through - your work is definitely provocative, but that's ART, right? If it doesn't make you think, what good is it? I have SUCH a major problem with fanboys who get all proprietary and "MINE!" about characters that belong to all of us. Two major tents in geek culture (Star Trek and X-Men) are all about respecting and celebrating diversity and different-ness. It breaks my heart to see narrower minds prevail.
awww well thank you for finding my work. It definitely is used to promote individuality and challenge the viewer on what they see. A child will see their heroes, adults would see something else. Definitely I try to make people think, but use these characters to remind us that we have been celebrating individuality, uniqueness and differences since the first time a story with a character was told. Comments have definitely been across the board and without the artist statement of my work present I definitely get ripped a new one from time to time...but those that do get it, they are equally strong on their support. It's funny most of the drag versions of my characters are straight people who wanted to do it to prove the point that looks can be deceiving and are completely behind what I do. Definitely so many forget what X-Men was always about...but as long as there are those of us who remember, than it will prevail in the end.
